- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee Blog
I’m a big advocate for splurges. Not crazy-break-the-bank-and-now-we-can’t-eat-this-month splurges, but rational, this is super important to us, and we’ll really LOVE it and REGRET it if we don’t splurges. At least that’s my definition of rational. Because at the end of the day/month/year/wedding no one is giving us a gold star for our impressive budgeting abilities, or for cutting every possible corner and screwing the artists who are making our day special. I admit it’s taken me a bit to get on board with all this wedding planning business and I still don’t actually like gushing about all things wedding in the real world.
Shh—that’s why I LOVE blogging so much. So anyway, while there are plenty of “necessities” (hello, giant cake) that we aren’t even considering, one thing is incredibly, fantastically, deliciously important to us.
Photography. Beautiful, creative, mind-blowingly awesome professional wedding photography. The kind that comes with big price tags. Gulp.
Photography like this:
Or this:
Or this:
(Kirsten Ellis, Beaux Arts Photographie)
Not being a girl obsessed with weddings since childhood, I HAD NO IDEA that wedding photography could be so effing awesome. I also had no idea that it could cost $5000+.
So what are a couple of budget minded brides to do? (Clearly, this is my standby question.)
We weighed our options and briefly considered having one of our super talented friends just snap pics. It was tempting, but ultimately we decided that we wanted all of our friends to be able to drink, dance, eat, and have FUN without worrying about meticulously detailing our day. And based on a few friends’ bad experiences with amateur/friend/friend-of-the-family photographers, I figured we’d be saving ourselves a lot of added worry/stress too if we could just find the perfect professional.
So now our only worry was how the hell to find a photographer we could (kind of) afford that fit our awesome requirements, and wanted to photograph OUR wedding. A daunting task, no?
So stay tuned: You know you’ve found your photographer when she lets your smelly dog sit on her lap for an hour all the while scratching his dirty beard and (I assume) holding her breath.
What are your most daunting wedding tasks?
Our daunting task was finding a DJ. It was just so overwhelming! I cannot wait to see who you picked for a photographer!
the prices really threw me off when i began looking for photographers. i’ve now begun to appreciate more the value of their work, but $5000 is still too much!
I was amazed at the prices. But great photo porn there!
Can’t wait to see who made the cut! I’m a huge fan of OLOL’s work, but all of the pictures you posted are eye candy for sure!
BRAVO for you - I am thrilled to read this! I became addicted to two photographers blogs before getting engaged. When I got engaged I knew that this was something I was willing to splurge. Photography is so so so so important, I can’t wait to see who you have chosen not to mention I can’t wait to begin following their blog, haahaahaa The blogs I follow are http://www.sarahrhoads.com/blog and http://tecpetajaphoto.blogspot.com/
I was BLOWN AWAY by photography prices. I figured we could get photography for maybe $1500 - $2000. Which we could, if we want very generic photos. But for the more artistic photos that we’re drawn to, they cost like $5k-$7k!!! WHAT?!?!
P.S. Everytime I see photos from OLOL I want to cry that I can’t have them. Max Wanger too. *sob*
We had limited choices in the rural area of the country that we are getting married in, but were still able to find someone we’re excited about thats (sort of) in our price range. Though we still had to go for one of the less expensive options around, photography is taking a much larger percentage of our overall budget than the typical wedding-planning guides suggest (in fact, we’re spending about the same on photography as catering! We’re getting really cheap food in exchange for an awesome photo package.)
Those are beautiful inspiration pictures! I definitely worked myself up a lot about the photographer, and we spent a lot more than we’d hoped to… but I’m so glad we did! I won’t ever regret that one. 
OMG, Feather Love is soooo amazing! Did you see the “boudoir” shoot she did that ESB linked to a couple days ago? Ahh, I almost died.
Tec (Petaja) is doing my wedding in September. I splurged (REALLY splurged) because although I never planned my wedding as a little girl I ADORED looking at my Mom’s pictures. In the end, they are all you have left….no-one will remember the cake flavour, the favours, the invites (try to think/reconstruct an invite of a wedding you attending 5 years ago in your mind. I dare you!) - but the photos are something you can revisit time and again. We’re not doing a couple of other things (menus and programs and favours, to be exact), but I’m not sorry!!
what’s even crazier about photog prices is that they keep going up even MORE every year.
For us, it was finding a place to get married. Having never stayed in St Thomas, it was tough! I think everyone should splurge on one thing that’s super important to them for the wedding.
photography and our venue were our big splurges. The venue holds sentimental value and well, the photos will too.
Our Labor of Love and Feather Love are two of my favorite photographers. They both also charge more than half of our wedding budget. not gonna happen.
Finding a photographer and videographer that won’t cost me an arm, leg, foot, hand and some organs too. What the crap is with $4000 photos. Um, no thanks.
The photography is our big splurge, too. I looked at cheaper photographers, but kept getting drawn to the artistic ones who captured real moments in a beautiful way. I am so excited we decided to put a lot of money here for our memories, especially because who we chose is sweet and sassy, which in my book is a perfect combo and will help make the day even more fun!
I’m with you on this one! Photography was SO important to us - it’s the one big thing that we are paying for ourselves, because we knew that my parents wouldn’t be willing to shell out crazy amounts of money for photography!
I can’t wait to see who you picked! I adore everything OLoL touches (obviously!), and Feather Love is so fantastic as well.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Ms. Stripes, Los Angeles Age and Occupation: 29, Costume Designer/Stylist Fiancee's Age and Occupation: 29, Chef Engagement Date: June 23, 2009 Wedding Date: September 2010 Venue: Heritage Square Museum About Me: I’m a type A creative with a messy streak, a loud mouth, and an uncanny knack for combining clashing patterns. I can usually be found with my nose in a book, my feet (or at least my toes) on the ground, my head in the clouds, and my arm around the prettiest girl you ever saw- aka Fiancee Stripes. Together we’re planning a FUN vintage/modern French carnival wedding extravaganza and rockin’ dance party on a dime. (Say that three times fast!) Good coffee, long lists, Uniball pens, and my iPhone keep me sane, and making art, making trouble, and making out keep me happy! I love urban adventures, bike rides that end with afternoon drinks, breakfast for dinner, beautiful light, photography, travel, my furry family, and of course, my beautiful fiancee! I’m super excited to be here and can’t wait to share all our adventures as we craft a joyful, budget-friendly, design-savvy and all-around AWESOME wedding!
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
Latest Gallery Pics